


sent: happy fathers day! read 4:07 p.m.

by RangerDew



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Character Study, Child Neglect, Denial of Feelings, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Jealousy, M/M, Very Long-Running Crushes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22416703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RangerDew/pseuds/RangerDew
Summary: When Raihan was ten, Leon won the championship in his place.He had thought he might be mad. Maybe even stop being friends with Leon.His dad presents a trophy to Leon, bright and big and gold and all too tacky, but as Leon receives the trophy with the widest smile on his face Raihan wants nothing more than to have this moment himself someday.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan, Kibana | Raihan & Rose | Chairman Rose
Comments: 6
Kudos: 123





	sent: happy fathers day! read 4:07 p.m.

**Author's Note:**

> tw for child neglect & hospitals/comas

When Raihan was ten, Leon won the championship in his place.

He had thought he might be mad. Maybe even stop being friends with Leon. 

His dad presents a trophy to Leon, bright and big and gold and all too tacky, but as Leon receives the trophy with the widest smile on his face Raihan wants nothing more than to have this moment himself someday.

(There’s a small bout of anger, but he quashes it down.)

Afterwards, Leon spends nearly every day with his father. Press conferences, publicity stunts, you name it. Raihan is left in the shadows.

He moves back to Hammerlocke, where he was born and, more importantly, where his dad was leasing out an apartment to him. It was kind of every child’s dream; a big T.V., a fancy bed, gaming consoles,  _ room _ . He had one of the biggest apartments in Hammerlocke, and for free, too.

It was just that the space felt a  _ little  _ too big for Raihan. Just a bit.

Maybe he thought it was kind of empty, too. A bit lonely. 

He turns on the T.V. Leon’s face is there, bright and pretty and shy from the attention. Next to him is his dad’s big ugly mug.

Raihan turns off the T.V. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


He gets handed the gym leader position when he’s fifteen years old. He’s just discovered the wonder that is social media. He opens it first thing every morning, and half the time he’s greeted with Leon’s happy face, doing some kind of press conference or mock battle for the fans. His father is usually not far behind. Out of spite, Raihan had once considered blocking every account that posts a picture of his dad, but he soon discovers that he’d be blocking nearly every big news account on the web. He grows accustomed to the face of his father, smiling warm and happy for all of Galar but not for him.

He’s still good friends with Leon, despite everything. He surprises himself with how often they text; twice a day, at least, and it’s usually something inane like burnt pancakes or a mishap with a wild Pokemon. It makes Raihan laugh. A lot of things Leon does make Raihan laugh, but not in the normal way, in a lighter, happier way that he really only gets around Leon nowadays. And maybe Pokemon battling.

The previous gym leader of Hammerlocke had been a fierce lady, in her mid-forties but still raring to go. Her wife, however, had wanted to travel the world, and they went together because in truth, neither of them were the kind to stay in one place for very long. Raihan looks at Hammerlocke, the city he has known his whole life, and a kind of jealously blooms in his chest. He’ll always be here.

Why is he so bitter? He’s got the perfect position. He’s not a bad trainer, either, and he’ll make sure Hammerlocke Gym keeps its prestigious position as Galar’s toughest. He’ll get press, too, maybe as much as Leon on some days. He’s getting better at social media, after all.

It just all doesn’t feel quite enough to him. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Raihan has never remembered his mother. His father doesn’t talk about her very often. When he does, it’s short and sweet.

_ Your mother was so kind to Pokemon.  _

_ She used to knit a lot. That scarf you’re wearing, she made it. _

_ Take care of this Trapinch. Your mother bred it. _

Raihan tries to ask for more information. The little bits and crumbs he gets about his mom taste so flavorful against the rest of the dull blandness that is his life; he can’t help but ask for more.

His father never answers, just smiles. It’s not a real one, not the ones Leon flash him when they walk down Route 5 together and Raihan’s just slipped in a stray puddle.

His father is always trying to hide something from him. Always.

Raihan decides that he doesn’t trust adults.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Raihan is stupidly good at using social media.

He knows just what to say, exactly what angle to poise the camera. His likes pile up and up. Soon, he’s surpassed nearly everyone in Galar.

(Leon has one post on his account that just says, “Champion Time!” He has twenty million followers. Raihan doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.)

He does get a laugh, though, when his tag beats his father’s on trending on the opening week of the gym challenge. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


He knows exactly why his dad placed him in Hammerlocke. Well, at first glance, it seems a bit obvious. Hammerlocke is a blooming city, one of the centers of Galar, home of the strongest Gym and a next-door-neighbor to a humongous wild area. It’s a perfect place to nurture a strong and curious child.

Raihan wishes that was the reason his dad had dumped him here. Hammerlocke is his home because it’s close to the power plant his dad runs and owns.

It’s a bit hard to consider yourself a Hammerlocke native when that’s the truth, but Raihan has grown attached to the city after living in it for his entire life. He waves at neighbors and water the little purple flowers on his windowsill.

None of them know why he’s here. They just know him as the scarily independent kid whose parents have never been around. One kindly old couple some doors down had actually offered to adopt him once, and he had to refuse.

He still regrets that decision to this day, but legally, he’s still under his dad’s power.

Another thing his dad does for him in Hammerlocke is get him a position as a trainer at the Hammerlocke Gym. 

He’s infuriated when he first finds out; he rips up the letter of invitation and mails the pieces to his dad.

He’s sure the delivery will never make it directly to his father, anyway. Everything goes through Oleana first.

  
  


* * *

  
  


They send him another invitation some years later, when he starts making a name for himself. He knows this one isn’t by the hand of his father, because they addressed him by his trainer name.  _ Kibana.  _

His dad never cared enough to know such a trivial detail. 

He accepts the invitation this time, and when they send him his uniform he takes as elfie smugly uploads it to every single one of his social media accounts. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


He works his way up through the ranks, and before he knows it, the previous gym leader is stepping down and offering the position to him. 

He accepts the position right before his eighteenth birthday. It’s one of the most fulfilling moments of his life.

_ Suck it, dad,  _ he thinks. He and Leon can party it up in their penthouse in Wyndon. Raihan doesn’t need them. He doesn’t need anyone.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Speaking of Leon, they still talk. Text and video chat, actually, but it’s pretty much the same.

Raihan is, in actuality, not incredibly surprised their relationship has built its way along all these years. It’s felt natural to him. Like he always knew this was coming.

Leon’s always busy. Ever since he became Champion, he’s only been able to meet up with Raihan in person a few times every year. Raihan finds himself marking dates on the calendar whilst cursing his dad for making Leon work so hard.

He’s gotten to the Championship Cup a few times. A lot of times, actually. He’s faced off as the finalist against Leon thrice now, and pride wells up within him whenever people bring it up. His dad still does not look his way. 

Leon does, though, and that’s enough for him.

* * *

  
  


When Raihan thinks about it, his dad is kind of like Leon’s dad, isn’t he?

They hang out all the time. His dad is in charge of Leon’s appointments and appearances. Leon looks up to him. 

They’re closer than Raihan has ever been with his dad, and they spend more time together than Leon and Raihan, It’s kind of upsetting.

Raihan is glum every time he has this conversation in his head. Afterwards, he goes to his gym and beats up the first challenger that walks through the door.

* * *

His Duradulon has been with him since he was a kid. His Flygon, even longer.

They both harbor a distinct dislike towards his father.

The sentiment is shared, Raihan thinks.

* * *

  
  


Why did he originally start on his Pokemon journey, anyhow?

His father had endorsed him, of course. No one else knows this except for him. He endorses a new child every year, after all, and Raihan was just one in a long string. Forgettable. None of the children he endorsed ever won, and Raihan was no exception. Sometimes, when he’s really tired and it’s just him and his Pokemon, he’ll joke that it’s a curse for his father to endorse someone. They’d have no chance of winning.

But Raihan started his Pokemon journey… simply because he was a bored kid who wanted to be the best, he supposed. There were many children like him who had dreams of lifting the Champion’s Cup high above their head in victory. Raihan was one of those children too. He was just… slightly more bored, due to living alone in Hammerlocke. 

There really wasn’t any significant reason, huh? It’s kind of sad when Raihan thinks back, but he also doesn’t regret it. Pokemon battling is what he loves, and he wouldn’t give it up for the world. There’s an adrenaline to it he can’t forget.

Leon, though?

Raihan still doesn’t know why he started his trainer journey, after all these years. He’s had guesses, but no substantial evidence to back them up.

An ugly little Applin in his brain wonders if his dad knows.

For the next two weeks, the trainers at his gym ask why he looks like he has such a dark cloud over his head. Raihan gives them chores and doesn’t answer.

* * *

Raihan has always paired his Pokemon. When he was a Gym Challenger, he was the bane of everyone else’s existence. Whenever he locked eyes with another Gym Challenger peer, he’d force them to double battle him. He usually won, too, not to anyone else’s delight.

As a Gym Leader, he does the same. When he moves in, he refuses to fight anything but double battles, and his gym trainers soon take after him when they realize he’s not going to stop. It’s just the way he’s always worked. His Pokemon pair together and complement each other so well. Individually, they’re alright, but together they slash and dash like they’re dancing. 

Raihan finds it hard to imagine them fighting alone. They’d be lost without his partner. Maybe it’s because he’s been so lonely his whole life that he watches his Pokemon in teams. Maybe he wants them to have what he doesn’t.

Whatever. He doesn’t know, and frankly, he doesn’t care. What matters right now are the wins racking up for the Hammerlocke Gym. 

* * *

  
  


He dates his first guy not too long after he realizes he likes guys.

His new boyfriend is nice. He’s from Sinnoh, but he was staying in Hammerlocke for a year or so for school. He was also a ridiculously good battler. Not as good as Raihan, of course, but good enough to give a lot of the Hammerlocke Gym trainers a run for their money. Raihan would always laugh and give his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek when he won, much to the indignation of his trainers. 

He’s a Dark-type trainer, and every so often Raihan will pass by the house he’s renting and see him singing and watering the flowers with his Murkrow. It’s cute.

They go steady for around a year, and soon it’s nearing the Champion Cup and the time for his boyfriend to leave. Raihan runs to the train station to see him off.

His boyfriend just chuckles awkwardly, and says that Raihan was sweet, really, and that he liked him a lot, but he knew Raihan’s eyes were elsewhere. Raihan has no idea what he’s talking about, and before his now ex-boyfriend turns to leave, he tries to grab onto his sleeve.

His ex looks surprised for a split second, and then the surprise blooms into a sad smile. Sorry, he says before he leaves.

Raihan is sorely disappointed. He’s reminded of his dad, choosing Leon over him, and his expression turns sour.

Fine. He doesn’t need anyone.

  
  


* * *

  
  


He’s heard that his father has been asking the children he endorses to collect Wishing Stars. It’s a stupid fairy tale, but he still stays up late on nights and does research on them. It’s all the same mumbo-jumbo from a billion years ago about the hero who saved Galar. He doesn’t know what his father is getting at with this Wishing Star stuff, but whatever it is, his dad is not a hero.

The fairy tales do sound a bit familiar, though. They remind him of kind hands and a soothing voice and soft wool-knit sweaters. Raihan tries not to think about it. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


He’s not surprised when he finds out the kid his father had endorsed this year had been disqualified. By his father himself, no less.

Something about destroying public property. Figures. 

Well, it’s not his problem. Though, he does do a little follow-up on the trainer. Just because he’s curious.

He’d last been seen  _ officially  _ in Hammerlocke, but there had been reports of sightings of him in Ballonlea. Curious. He did wear an inordinate amount of pink, and if Raihan knows Opal…

He smirks. Okay, so the kid became a gym leader as well. 

Maybe the trainers his dad endorsed had another trend in them.

* * *

  
  


The Championship Cup is upon them and Raihan is going to beat Leon into the ground.

He jokes about it on a phone call with Raihan on his flight to Wyndon. You better be ready, he warns. Soon  _ you’re  _ going to have to be scheduling visits with me.

The semifinalists are just who he expects. The two trainers Leon endorsed, Pier’s little sister, and one other. 

Raihan’s bones are aching from years and years of loss. He’s so ready. He knows this is the year. He had trained nearly every day ever since the Challenge started. There was no way he was going to lose.

He stares at Wyndon Stadium, in the distance. He flips the bird. Leon had better watch out. And his father had better, too. When Raihan wins, he’s going to call him out. Maybe ruin his reputation a little.

And with that thought, he sets for the hotel, feeling just a little bit happier.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Gloria decimates him.

She’s a good kid, and Raihan isn’t mad that she’s the one who’s beaten him, but there’s shame building in his chest like a hungry fire because a trainer that  _ Leon  _ endorsed had beaten him and he’s not sure if he can stand losing another year.

He puts his arms behind his head and tries the most nonchalant expression he can manage. He’s almost certain it looks stupid, but anything to keep himself from throwing a fit or, Arceus forbid, crying. Then, with his steadiest voice, he says, “Well. You beat me!”

It’s the dumbest line of his life, but Gloria just nods awkwardly. She’s still on the adrenaline from the fight, no doubt, and with the crowd cheering her name like this Raihan’s surprised she’s still keeping her cool. He has respect for her.

He exits the stage, feeling kind of numb. As he enters the changing room, he can hear Marnie in the middle of berating her brother for losing to him. It’s kind of awkward, and he tries to leave before either of them notice. He fails. They spot him, and Piers waves awkwardly.

The day can’t get any worse.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It does get a lot worse. His father has done it, the things Raihan dreamed about in his imagination as a child. The Darkest Day is upon them. 

He’s angry, he’s so, so angry. His father has used Hammerlocke -  _ his city -  _ as some kind of playground for this monster he’s unleashed. He dumped him there, he left Raihan alone, and Raihan flourished. It was the one redeemable thing he had done, and now he was undoing it before Raihan’s very eyes.

He’s angry for another reason, too. He  _ liked  _ the fairy tales. They reminded him of someplace far away and warm and intimate in a way he knows he hasn’t experienced but he can  _ remember.  _ He doesn’t like his father rampaging through his memories like he rampaged through all of his life.

He’s seething when he gets to the entrance of the power plant. His city. His gym. The audacity of his father. 

For a second, he’s too scared to step in. He knows Leon is on the room, fighting for the safety of Galar against Arceus-knows-what, a monster of his own father’s doing. Right after Raihan had promised Leon a battle and lost before he could even reach him. Does he even have the right?

You’re a coward, Raihan, a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like his old boyfriend calls out. Raihan quirks an eyebrow.

Coward. Right. Was he a coward? He’d never mentioned his father for all his years as a trainer. He’d been resentful time and time over at people he had no relation to. He’d even been resentful towards Leon and kept his mouth shut about it.

But was he a coward? He’d declined his father’s recommendation and built his way to the top through his own merit. He’d lived on his own in Hammerlocke as long as he could remember. He’d even dated, even if it wasn’t that successful.

If there is any coward in this world, it is his father, who left him in Hammerlocke without another word, never visited, never uttered a syllable of his name, gave him feeble support in the form of flourished letters. Raihan knew.

When it came down to the two of them, he was the braver one. His father was the one unwilling to face reality.

He runs into the power plant. What kind of son would he be, after all, if he didn’t crush his deadbeat dad in a battle and save the world in the process?

  
  


* * *

  
  


There is no need to crush his dad. Gloria had beat him to it.

Ha ha. Now she’s beaten both Roses! Father and son. How cute.

His father stands amidst a sea of broken glass, smile as calm as ever on his face. How is he always smiling? What is there to be happy for? Raihan wants to punch it off his face.

His father is still smiling, smiling, smiling, and Raihan can’t stop feeling more and more disgusted the more he stands there and looks at him. So, he turns to leave.

Wait, his father calls out, and Raihan finds his feet unable to move.

Your mother, his father says. This was her research. I am simply carrying it out.

Raihan doesn’t remember anything about his mother, anything at all, except for warmth and love and bedtime stories about Pokemon whose heads brushed the clouds. It’s all he needs to remember.

My mother would have never wanted this, he says, voice low and dangerous. And he leaves. 

His father makes no attempt to stop him, and he’s not sure whether he’s relieved or upset at that fact.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Raihan runs up to the roof just in time to see the pokeball burst and Leon and his Charizard shield the children with their bodies.

He screams out and runs forward, but the light is blinding.

He can’t remember anything that happens after that.

  
  


* * *

  
  


He is in the hospital for, apparently, falling off the roof of the Hammerlocke Power Plant.

It’s amazing he’s survived, the nurses all say to him. He feels like he’s just died once over. 

They want him to stay in the hospital for the next month at least, something about internal bleeding. Raihan finds himself bored and agitated for most of the day. He spends most of his time watching the T.V. in the room with his Flygon, though it’s usually nothing interesting. However, occasionally, it’ll drop another snippet on his father or Leon. Raihan can’t pay enough attention during those times.

He learns that Leon is in the hospital, just like him, except most of his injuries are from the battle with the monster, Eternatus, he learns, rather than from getting blinded and running straight off a roof. His dad is in prison - good riddance, by the way - and Oleana on house arrest. He’s kind of shocked they haven’t sent him a letter saying he owns Macro Cosmos now. Who else was his dad going to include in his will, anyway?

Every day, when the nurses come by, he asks about Leon’s condition. It’s all he can do at the moment, but moreover Raihan just really needs to know if Leon is okay. He pleads with the nurse that tends to him every day, and the nurse that comes around every three days, and the nurses that come to visit his room sometimes to bring him meals. Most of them, flustered, apologize and say that they don’t know anything, but one sympathetic one says she can get to her friend who works at the hospital where Leon’s being treated. Raihan promises to give her a signed version of his rare League Card. She blushes, and runs out of the room.

A week later, she comes back and tells Raihan that Leon is in critical condition. He’d been severely injured by the fight with Eternatus, and he also may have been infected with some kind of… poison? Raihan doesn’t care. He has to see Leon.

_ As much as he hated to admit it, his father was gone and he felt like something had gone missing. If Leon left, too, Raihan didn’t think there would be much of his heart left. _

He gets out of the hospital in just three weeks. His doctor is impressed he healed himself so fast, but Raihan knows he may have been bluffing a bit about the pain he was in and just exactly how healthy he was. He staggers the entire way to Leon’s hospital in Wyndon. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


He sits outside Leon’s door after he argues so much that they let him in. The steady beep of monitors around him is no condolence, but he tries to focus on the one in the room behind him.

The beep means Leon’s still going. As long as that remains true, Raihan will be content to sit in this symphony for the rest of his life. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


He thinks he may be hungry, or thirsty. His chest hurts with every breath, and so do his shoulders, his arms, and his legs. He’s covered in cold sweat, he knows it, and he can vaguely feel his Flygon fanning him from his side. The crutches next to him weigh on his shoulder, and it hurts. 

His mind flashes with events from the Darkest Day. He hates it, he hates it now and he hates that he hates it because no matter how dark the story had gotten it had always been  _ his  _ story, a story from when he was too young to form concrete memories or process everything. Now it had been twisted and ruined into something unrecognizable.

He hates his dad, for everything he said before he left. He hates Eteranatus, for being Poison and Dragon of all things. He hates Leon, for causing him all this wear and trouble.

He hates himself, for not being able to do anything for the only constant he has left. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


He hears footsteps in the room. 

He opens his eyes. It’s another nurse.

Apparently, Hop had found him collapsed in the hallway found it urgent enough to have to report to the hospital staff. Personally, Raihan thinks he would’ve been fine. 

The nurse scolds him for overworking himself, and that they’re checking him back in and asking the hospital in Hammerlocke for his information. No, he wants to say.

He has to go wait for Leon. He doesn’t feel safe if his eyes aren’t on him all the time, watching him all the time, because or else he might fly away.

He wonders if he’s being clingy, and waves the thought off. He’s tried not to be clingy for most of his life now. He’s allowed to be a little overprotective when his best friend is about to die.

So there he stays, in the room. It’s boring again, though now  _ anxious  _ has been added to the mix as well. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


He hears the hospital T.V. announce that Leon is awake and he can’t get out of his bed fast enough.

  
  


* * *

  
  


They apologize. It’s family only for the next two weeks.

Two weeks. Raihan can’t wait two weeks. Can Raihan wait two weeks? He’s been waiting his entire life.

Another measly two weeks will be nothing.

They have to rebandage him, since getting out of bed had jostled a lot of his wounds. As they do, he repeats the mantra in his head. 

Another measly two weeks will be nothing.

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


It’s agonizing.

  
  


\--

  
  


They tell him he’s ready for a visit, but to take it easy. Raihan just nearly leaps out of bed.

He wobbles down to the elevator, and to Leon’s room. He stands just before the door.

He’s spent the last two weeks debating with himself on how ready he was. He’s spent the last two weeks being desperate.

Be brave, a voice in his head that sounds very much like himself says.

He pushes open the door with one arm.

Leon is there, lying among a pile of teddy bears and get-well cards and roses. Raihan sees the irony.

They say nothing for the next minute. It’s becoming rather painful for Raihan. Finally, Leon is the first to speak.

“Hey,” he rasps. 

Raihan gives a weak chuckle in response. “Hey.”

Leon looks surprisingly well, for someone who had just been in unstable condition for over a month. His face looks more worn and haggard than before, but as per usual, it’s just Leon.

At the thought, Raihan gives a lopsided grin. It grows wider.

Leon notices. He cracks a nervous smile. “What?”

Raihan shakes his head. “You’re the same. You’re really the same.”

“Uh… yeah.”

“And you’re still here.”

Leon nods weakly. “I am.”

Raihan breathes heavily. In, out. Everything is okay.

“Um… Raihan?”

Leon’s soft voice cuts through his thoughts. He realizes that there are drops of water falling on the floor. Pitter, patter. It’s another second before he realizes they’re his own tears.

He breaks down bawling. Leon tries to console him, but Raihan barely hears any of it. He just cries.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Are you okay?”

“Oh my god, Leon, why would you ask me that? Are you okay? You just got poisoned by this- this dragon-thing. All I did was fall off a roof.”

“...I meant to ask. How did you fall off the roof of the power plant, anyway?”

“...It’s kinda embarrassing.”

“No way. Please, I need to know.”

“...I was running towards you. I was trying to save you, I guess.”

“...Oh.”

“Don’t feel bad or anything! I’m serious. None of what happened was your fault.”

“How do you know that for sure?”

Leon’s voice is suddenly small compared to its usual booming volume. Raihan looks over. Leon’s eyes are glossed over with unshed tears.

_ Oh,  _ Raihan thinks.

He shifts on his spot where he’s leaning against a window. “You really didn’t know,” Raihan starts. “I did.”

That gets Leon’s attention. “What?”

Oh goodness. Maybe Raihan shouldn’t have brought it up. No, no, he definitely should have. Leon deserves to know the truth. So he continues. “I… I knew my father was collecting Wishing Stars, and I did some research on it. I knew about the Darkest Day and stuff. And, um, the Pokemon, too. And I didn’t do anything about it.” There’s no response from Leon. “So, uh, I played a bigger part in it than you did. And you shouldn’t feel guilty.” 

“Your father?”

Raihan’s veins turn to ice. 

“Who was collecting Wishing Stars, Raihan?”

Just tell him. “Rose.”

“I see.”

Raihan bites his lip. “I’m sorry I never told you.” It was a bit hard, amidst the jealousy and the loneliness. He never really had the chance. He-

“Shut up, Rai!”

Raihan’s expression morphs into something of shock. “What?”

Leon is staring back at him all determined. Even with the hospital food and the lack of training, he still looks as though he’s the undefeatable Champion of Galar. “The Chairman was your dad? And he never even spent a second with you? All he ever did was hang out with me?”

“Leon-”

“And you tried so hard to fit into my schedule, to talk with me for even just a couple minutes, but your dad never made any effort? And he would help me with my appearance and my battles and- oh, Raihan, for a time I considered him my dad-”

“Leon, stop. Please.”

Leon is crying now. “Why? It’s all true! I can’t imagine how you must have felt all these years.”

“Leon, he was a deadbeat. I made for myself. I did great for myself. Look where I am now. I don’t need him, and I never did. I have you. That’s all I need, and you’re here and alive. There’s nothing more I could ask for.”

Leon throws his arms around him and sobs. Raihan reciprocates almost instantly. They sit there, wetting each other’s shirts with their tears and letting out all the years of pent-up sorrow.

Sometimes, all someone needs is a good cry. As Leon and Raihan rest on each others shoulders, they think, yeah. Maybe everything will be okay after all. 

  
  


\--

  
  


“Leon!”

His boyfriend spots him amongst the crowd and waves. “Raihan!”

They push through the crowd towards each other. When they finally meet, Leon presses a tender kiss to Raihan’s lips. They pull away, and laugh.

“How’s the Battle Tower going?” Raihan asks. 

Leon nods. “Good, good! Thank you again for all your help. I really couldn’t have done it without you.”

Raihan makes a face. “I didn’t do anything?”

“You’re great emotional support! And you gave me the tower space, too. That’s not something anyone could do.”

Raihan blows a raspberry. “Come on, what was I gonna do with that dumb old tower anyway? You’re putting it to great use.”

Leon grins. Another million-watt smile, Raihan thinks. “People all over the world are coming to compete in it! It’s kind of awe-inspiring, actually, to see kids get better and eventually challenge me!”

“Pfft. I knew that’d be the kind of thing that makes you happy. Champion never exactly fit, huh?”

“I guess you’re right. But then again, Rose wasn’t the most warm and caring mentor.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of how he was.”

“Mhm.” 

“But, hey, in other news, I heard Gloria beat you again!” 

“Ugh, shut up!” 

Raihan doesn’t respond, and Leon looks over at him after a beat. “Uh, Rai?”

“You alright?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“I dunno, you just seem kinda… nervous?”

Leon laughs awkwardly. “Wow, you… know me pretty well.”

“It’s my coolest skill! I can read you.”

Leon blushes. “Um, actually, I wanted to ask you something…”

Now it’s Raihan’s turn to be nervous. “Uh huh?”

Leon takes a deep breath. “Um, will you. The Battle Tower is growing a lot, and, uh. Within the past couple months I’ve realized that double battles… are pretty important for teamwork and coordination and such, and they’re you’re specialty, so, uh. I was wondering if, if you’re not too busy… you could come be my partner in double battles at the Tower?”

Raihan stares at Leon for a bit, mouth open, dumbfounded. “ _ That  _ was what you wanted to ask me?! And to think, I could’ve fought alongside you all this time if I’d just come forward!”

“What?!   
  


“Leon, you didn’t even have to ask all seriously like this! I would’ve flown over to Wyndon at the first chance you gave me!”

“W-I thought you might’ve been busy!”

“I have plenty of free time! Trainers rarely make it to my gym anyway!”

“Well, I mean… get over here, then?!”

“You best bet I will! We’re going to be the fiercest team at the Battle Tower!” 

“Gloria frequents the Tower, you know.”

“Well, we’re gonna beat her! As a team!”

“That’s not why I asked you to come!”

“Well, we can help trainers grow  _ and  _ beat the current Champion at the same time!”

“You haven’t even beaten me yet!”

“Is that a challenge?”

“You bet it is!”

“Fine! Meet me in the stadium!”

“You’re on!” 

  
  


* * *

_ Leon & Raihan _

_ 1, 241 _

_ Leon and Raihan are the two lead trainers in the Wyndon Battle Tower. Ever since the Tower became accustomed for double battles, Leon and Raihan have become an incredible team. It almost appears as if they and their Pokemon are perfectly in sync with each other’s thoughts. Many fans have dubbed them the 'power couple' of the Battle Tower. Their joint mission statement, in their words, is “to help the trainers of the Galar region grow and improve!”  _

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading this! raihan is an incredibly enjoyable character to write. for everyone that came from my other fic, fake snow, i promise i'll update someday. and, well, in the meantime... have this spiritual successor! i projected a lot while writing this despite having a dad who is the opposite of neglectful i hope you guys enjoyed


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